Tyler says that on four different occasions now, the Xbox Live points and subscription cards he’s bought have been invalid when he redeems them. He had a friend at Gamestop help him out with the invalid subscription card, but he’s stuck with useless paper when it comes to the points cards. [More]
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GM Voids Warranty On Used Truck, Blames It On Chip Owner Didn't Know Was Installed
By 8.24.10
Ken is facing a $13,000 repair bill on his 2007 Chevy 2500 diesel truck, because the full factory warranty the dealership assured him it had was voided by GM. The reason: GM says at some point in the past, someone put a chip in the truck that doesn’t match the info GM has, so they don’t have to service it. The problem for Ken is that the dealership didn’t check for this chip before it sold the truck to Ken, and Ken didn’t know about this loophole when he bought it. In fact, he says he bought it about a year and a half before GM implemented this rule. [More]
How To Polish A Scratched iPhone
By 3.9.10
Replacing an iPhone is expensive, which is why this guy decided to buy a heavily used and damaged one and clean it up himself. You might find the screen replacement side too daunting, but the procedure for turning a dull, scratched case into a glossy smooth one is something pretty much anyone can do. [More]
If You Don't Care About Online Gaming: Banned XBOX 360s Available
By 11.18.09
Last week Microsoft banned a crapload of modified XBOX 360s from XBOX Live. If you happen to be one of those people who don’t care about playing online, you might consider grabbing one on eBay or Craiglist. Then again, if you’re looking for an XBOX 360 that actually works with XBOX Live, you might want to be wary of buying a used one right now.
Rumor: Game Crazy To Close 200 Locations
By 9.29.09
Joystiq reported last night that Game Crazy “plans to close 200 of its approximately 680 locations at the end of October.” There’s no official list of which stores are closing yet, so feel free to ask your local Game Crazy employees and see if you can scare them.
Textbooks Publishers Using "Packets" To Fight Used Book Market
By 8.26.09
Students who prefer to shop for textbooks online are encountering a hitch in their efforts. University and College courses are increasingly using bundled versions of textbooks that come with their own ISBN number. School book stores sell the packets as a single item, because their contents don’t come itemized.
Sleepy's Exec Says Bedbugs Come From People
By 8.17.09
Buried in the controversy surrounding the exit of consumer reporter George Gombossy from the Hartford Courant was his article that looks at complaints against mattress company Sleepy’s. We though this bit of wisdom from Sleepy’s COO was worth repeating:
Cheap-ish Collectible Cars For The Recession
By 6.4.09
Just because there’s a recession on doesn’t mean you can’t have a hobby. Well, ok. It might mean that, but let’s assume for a second that it doesn’t. The NYT asked some collectible car experts to recommend some affordable old cars that, while they may not be considered “an investment,” are still lots of fun.
RadioShack Electronics Trade-In Program Not The Fastest Way To Get Cash
By 5.14.09
A Dallas Morning News blogger decided to test out RadioShack’s new trade-in program, where you mail them your unwanted cellphone, for example, and they mail you a gift card, which you can then turn around and use to buy 7,000 house brand AAA batteries. As you might expect, RadioShack didn’t offer him as much money for his Blackberry Storm as he saw them going for on eBay, but the real problem came from the missed deadlines and delays in getting his gift card: what they said would take one week ended up taking 5 1/2 weeks, and might have taken longer had he not emailed them.
"New" Phone Bought Off EBay Turns Out To Be Used, Porny
By 4.22.09
Lillian bought what she thought was a new phone from an eBay seller with a lot of great feedback. The longer she has it, though, the more evidence she finds that it’s probably not new. Sometimes buying electronics off of eBay is like slowly peeling an onion.
Customer Apologizes For Guitar Center Screw-Up
By 2.19.09
Mitch wrote to us last week to complain that he was sent a used guitar instead of the new one he ordered. Musician’s Friend and/or Guitar Center (they’re related) followed up with Mitch and corrected the mistake, but it turns out that Mitch was in the wrong on this one. Here’s his explanation for what happened.
Guitar Center Ships Broken Guitar From Another Store's Inventory, Says Too Bad, Now It's Yours
By 2.12.09
Did you know Guitar Center, Musician’s Friend, and “a few other online music retailers” all share the same centralized distribution center? That’s the explanation a Musician’s Friend CSR gave Mitch when he tried to solve the mystery of the dented, twisted-neck, not-even-from-the-right-store Fender Telecaster. It looks like Guitar Center shipped him another company’s returned item. That’s bad enough, but now Guitar Center says they won’t make good on his order because it’s beyond the 30 day return period. Hey, Guitar Center: What return period? Mitch never got the product he ordered in the first place.
Update: Musician’s Friend has responded with an apology.
This iPhone Comes With A Blackberry User's Email Address, And A Mystery
By 1.27.09
No, we didn’t accidentally republish yesterday’s post. This is another story of a “new” iPhone with someone else’s email address, and this time there appears to be no simple explanation for it—the address on the phone belonged to a man who lived on the other side of the country and used a Blackberry.
This 'New' iPhone Comes With Russian Email Address
By 1.26.09
It’s bad enough that Victor and his friends were scammed by this AT&T store in Brooklyn, but AT&T has basically told him that they can’t help fix the problem, even though he’s now in another town. Update: Eugene Pikulin says this could have happened innocently when the phone was activated in-store.
Your Car Is Used. Should GM Still Be Responsible For A Mistake It Made In The Factory?
By 1.22.09
At what point is an auto manufacturer freed from all responsibility for the car it makes and sells? Griffin says it’s almost certain that the incorrect body control module (BCM) was inserted at the factory, and that GM’s mistake cost him $459 to fix. GM says the former owner (Griffin’s friend) must have swapped out BCMs and therefore it’s “out of our control,” but Griffin argues that’s pretty much impossible.
Save Money On Your Next Refurb Project, Shop At A Habitat ReStore
By 1.9.09
Did you know Habitat for Humanity operates retail outlets where they sell used and surplus building materials? Habitat ReStores are located in 47 U.S. states and 9 Canadian provinces.
Personal Finance Roundup
By 8.18.08
Using Your Health Savings Account as a “Super Roth” Investment Vehicle [Free Money Finance] “If you can afford to delay using your HSA funds and instead leave them invested, your payoff in retirement will be substantial.”
K2 Auto Group In Minneapolis Uses The "I Hate You, Get Out" Sales Method
By 5.20.08
Jesse sent us a copy of the letter he recently sent to CarSoup.com about the treatment his mother received at the K2 Auto Group car lot in Bloomington, Minneapolis.The salesmen who “greeted” them employed a novel sales technique whereby you treat the customer like she’s not rich or smart enough to even own a car, much less one of your beauties. Oddly, it didn’t work, and they left without buying anything. Read on for the salesman’s amazing technique in action.
